4th of July

Annual tradition is for the Carpenter/Barrow family to get together at Bald Head over the 4th, which also happens to be Kevin's birthday.

Unfortunately this year Kevin and his crew kept passing a nasty virus back and forth. We got to see Sean just a little bit, but not enough. But thank goodness the rest of us didn't get it! It was great getting together with everyone and the kids had a blast. It's chaotic, but a good chaos!

Mimi entered the annual golf cart parade. The theme was "Let Freedom Ring." Anna, Braxton and Brynn (along with Marie for an extra set of eyes and hands) rode along and rang bells and then in front of the judges said the Pledge of Allegiance. That was the hook, line and sinker. They won 3rd place in the Patriotic division.

As always, a great time, never long enough and can't wait for the next visit!

Cousins!

This past weekend we were lucky enough to meet a Carpenter cousin for the very first time. Long story short, Mary reached out to Bryan's parents a few years back. Through communication she got Bryan's email address along with Marie and Kevin. Over they years a few dates have been thrown out to meet, but with how busy everyone is, things just never panned out. About a month ago Mary emailed Bryan and said she was planning a girls weekend in our area and would love to meet. And so we did! She was wonderful. I can honestly say that it's like we had all been friends for years. She was so easy to talk to. We met downtown at Nicki's Sushi and talked for hours. Then we bar hopped a little and continued getting to know each other. Sunday she came by to meet Chappelle and Braxton, who absolutely fell in love with her. She wasn't a stranger for long. Within less than 5 minutes, little B climbed in her lap and was playing and naming lego's after her. You know it's love when he names his lego's after her! Mary stayed for a couple of hours before having to head back. As we walked her out Braxton said "she sure is pretty!" And as you can see by the pictures....he is right!
Till the next time......

Key West BABY!!!!

So for Bryan's 40th birthday, my main present to him was a card that said "PACK YOUR BAGS!" and on the table I had little slips of paper with Costa Rica, Cabo and Key West turned over. We basically had a long weekend Thursday - Sunday to go away. I already had my mom lined up to watch the kids so now we needed to decide how to get the biggest bang for our buck. The cost to go to all three wasn't a big difference but what we had to keep in mind was the travel time. So the Keys it was!

We had an absolutely amazing time! Flew in around 2:00 Thursday, plenty of time to get checked in at our B&B - Tropical Inn and venture out. First stop Front Porch. Beer and wine...just our kind of spot. They were great and gave us some really good tips. We enjoyed the beverages and company there and then hit the walk...sidewalk that is! Our location was prime! We were directly in the middle of Duval St. We tried to hit as many local spots during our stay as possible too. Timing of the trip was perfect and coincided with the KeyWest Songwriters Festival. We were lucky enough to get seats for the show at The San Carlos Theater to see Jamey Johnson, Robert Earl Keen, Raul and a few other up and comers. It was totally MTV unplugged style. They would banter back and forth and just strike up a tune. Seriously amazing. We did everything possible to try and see Jerrod Neiman, but didn't luck out. It was super cool though because Jake Owen sat right next to us at the airport...Hello Handsome! Bryan and I had such an amazing time together and reconnected, which all couples need. We missed the kids terribly, but wouldn't you know it, jumped right back into the groove as soon as we got home. It was like we were never gone!

Mom/Grandmomma/Gaga did great. Thanks so much! She got some really good one on one time in with botj kido's. Can't wait for the next trip already!!!!

Random Cuteness

Braxton Update

My boy is 5! Where has the time gone? I can not believe I have a 5 year old!!!

This year we opted for a pizza party. It was great. I called to see if the Fire Department could stop by. We didn't know for sure until the day of, so I had not said anything to Braxton about it. I didn't want to disappoint my little buddy. We had a cake decorated with a dinosaur and I filled Easter Eggs with candy and we did a "dinosaur egg hunt" in the backyard along with a couple of borrowed bounce houses and a few of our favorite friends. The fire truck was ah-maz-ing!!! We ended up getting a ladder truck and they did not disappoint. The boys put the ladder...all...the...way...up....110 feet in the air and then climbed it! WHAT?!? Braxton and his buddies said "this was the best birthday ever!" Cool points scored for mom and dad! Braxton received all kinds of awesome gifts and uhm, dad got him a BB Gun. Seriously! I am not real keen on the idea, so Bryan has promised me, it gets locked in the gun safe and the only time he will get to shoot it is when dad is around and he will wear his safety glasses. My concern is "I like Chappelle's eyes!"

Happy Birthday to my sweetest boy ever! I love you more than you will ever know. You are head strong and can have a temper, but you have a genuine, sweet soul and love to snuggle and cuddle. Big things are in store for you my sweet goose!


In other big news: I registered B for kindergarten back in March and today we went for his assessment. They told us to be prepared with the staples: his name, birth date, address, phone number. So we made sure he was covered on those and in addition to that he needed to be able to trace, color, skip, use scissors. The process itself only took 30 minutes and basically they use it as a guideline to make sure they have a mixture in class. Of course I am a tad biased and think not only is he super stinkin' cute, but he's a smart boy too! I may have welled up as he walked back for his assessment. August is going to be brutal for me!